In Agile we like to deliver valuable software to our customers on a regular basis. However, while it’s pretty clear what “software” means, we cannot really say the same about “valuable”. The definition of Value in a project (with an uppercase “V”) is frequently fuzzy and confused. Even within the same project, asking different stakeholders what Value means to them produces different answers; and the same stakeholder will likely provide different definitions of Value, depending on their perception and role in the project. Most stakeholders will naturally associate Value to money, sometimes through surprisingly creative correlations; but there are other dimensions, equally valid, such as strategic positioning, company image, innovation and learning, and so forth. Understanding the multidimensional nature of Value becomes therefore critical to drive the project to success. In this talk we’ll address what Value means in Agile for different stakeholders; how to map and categorize the stakeholders; how to describe Value on different dimension and how to track it. We’ll also see what happens when we don’t do that. Also, assuming different stakeholders on the same project have different and multifaceted perceptions of Value, how can we coordinate the production effort in a balanced way? Which kind of corporate culture and corporate values (plural) support that?

1. VALUE
Andrea Provaglio
@andreaprovaglio

2. Nice to Meet You!
I assist executives, managers
and teams in knowledge-based
organizations in implementing
better ways of doing business in
the 21st century.
In over 20 years in IT, I worked
with multinationals and small
companies in three continents
and I had a U.S. work visa for
“extraordinary abilities in
Sciences”.

3. What is your
definition of
value?

4. What is their
definition of
value?

5. The Agile Manifesto
“Our highest priority is
to satisfy the customer
through early and
continuous delivery of
valuable software.”
Mentions — but doesn’t define —
value for Sponsors and Users.
Also lists Values.

6. The Scrum Guide
17 occurrences of
the word “value”
no definition

7. Training Materials
“[Value is] the benefit to
the [profit] organization,
represented in money
terms, that results from
the use of a product or
service”

8. Ron Jeffries
“Value is what you
want”

9. Tom Gilb
“Value is perceived
benefit: that is, the
benefit we think we
get from something.”

10. Gojko Adzic & David Evans
“The value of
software is a vague
and esoteric concept
in the domain of
business users”

11. And Then We Have Values
Learning
Capital
Product Speed
Information
Company Survival
Rapid Progress
Human Life
Helping the Customers
People’s Happiness
Joy
Creativity
Collaboration
Money
Revenue
Ability to Keep Working
Be With People We Care About
Adapted from a list by Ron Jeffries

12. Deliver What to Whom?
— and Why

13. Let’s Talk About Money
It’s important.
It’s also a trailing indicator
Duh.

14. Beyond Profit
“Profitability is a
necessary condition for
existence and a means to
more important ends, but
it is not the end in itself
for many of the visionary
companies.”
— Collins and Porras

15. One More Thought
“[most executives] are
running a company with a
90-day mandate. It's a
quarterly report. If you're
not good in 90 days, you're
out”
— Ricardo Semler
Interview on TED video “How to run a company with
(almost) no rules”

16. Why We Want To Quantify Goals
Having the conversation is
the key point
SCALE
Past Goal
Tolerable
Benchmark
Constraint
Target
“The main purpose of
‘quantification of performance
objectives’ is to force us to
think deeply, and debate
exactly, what we mean.”
— Tom Gilb

17. Why We Need To Identify Actors
“Stakeholder: anyone who can
influence, or is influenced, by
the outcome of an initiative.”
Identifying who are the stakeholders and their
relationships is a critical, complicated and
frequently overlooked activity Interest
Power
EngageKeep Happy
Monitor Inform
Prj Mgr
Prd Mgr
IT Dep
Supplier
Account
Support
Legal
Reseller
HQ
Clients
Question: is the development team a
stakeholder?

18. Why We Need To Identify Goals
Adapted from an example by Portia Tung
Stakeholder Goal Strategy 1 (with scales) Strategy N
Customer
Operations
Manager
Provide good customer
service
50% reduction of
customer complaints by
next year
Customers recommend
our service to friends
Increased NPS from 8%
to 15%
Lower operational cost Reduced number of call
centre staff and costs
Shorten cycle time Reduced from 2 days to
24 hours, eventually to
2 hours
…
Compliance to
regulations
Regulator directives
met and no fines paid
…
Customer … … …
Connecting
ends to means

19. Multi-level Goals and Strategies
Business Value Training Costs User Productivity
Profit -10% +40%
Market Share +50% +10%
Stakeholder Val. Intuitiveness Performance
Training Costs -10% +50%
User Productivity +10% +10%
Adapted from an example by Tom and Kai Gilb - Agile Record
Product Value GUI Design Optimization
Intuitiveness -10% +40%
Performance +50% +80%
OrganizationalTiers
(Goals) (Strategy) (Strategy)
Strategies recursively
turn into goals
Goals are
hierarchical

20. About Motivation
"Working for external,
measurable goals
destroys intrinsic
motivation."
-- Dave Snowden, Cynefin training class

21. Things Are More Organic
Interest
Power
EngageKeep Happy
Monitor Inform
Prj Mgr
Prd Mgr
IT Dep
Supplier
Account
Support
Legal
Reseller
HQ
Clients
A complex adaptive system

22. System Thinking for Value
Individual Goals and
Strategies for different
stakeholders may
amplify or dampen each
other in a system
dynamic.
SH1
SH2
SH3
Reinforcing
Loop
Balancing
Loop
Delay

23. Values
Abstract reference points
in anybody’s decisional
processes
Individuals have different
criteria to assess if their
values are met or violated
Values are hierarchical,
one has contextual
precedence over another

24. Some Example Of Values By Persona
Measurability over
predictability
Impact over scope
Directness and root
cause problem
solving
Business Owner Delivery Company Owner
Making the world a
better place
Helping people
make their lives
better and more
fulfilling
IT Manager
Sustainability
Compliance
Product Owner
Making Things
Happen
Learning
Constructive
negotiation
From real interviews

25. Values In The Organization
“We are in the business of
preserving and improving
human life. All of our
actions must be measured
by our success in
achieving that goal”
— Merck & co, internal management guide
A Core Ideology (Values + Purpose) comes from
founders and owners.

26. Start From The Values
“When you are faced with a
difficult decision situation,
start by thinking about your
values. Do not start by
thinking about alternatives,
as that will limit you.”
When we start from alternatives, the
assumptions of the first one will anchor our
thought process.

27. It's Not About Finding Compromises
“The test of a first-rate
intelligence is the ability to
hold two opposed ideas in
mind at the same time, and
still retain the ability to
function.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
The “Genius of the AND” over the
“Tyranny of the OR”
— “Built to Last"

28. Connecting Values to Value
Values
Criteria
Goals
Measurable Impacts
Actor's Conceptual Levels
Elements are interconnected on
multiple dimensions

29. The Nature of Value
Multi-dimensional
Systemic
Contextual
Subjective
Dynamic

30. Prioritizing Is Not The Main Point
Find the causality chain that
delivers what the actors
currently need most
Repeatedly select slices of the
value system (every few
weeks)
Validate hypotheses by
measurable impact of
deliverables
Top-level Values
Stakeholder Goals
Product Goals
Deliverables
Can be hard to assign value to single
deliverables
Value Loop
Impacts Loop

31. Beware Of Local Value Optimization
From a system perspective,
many of the pain points in
projects are symptoms of a
(frequently tacit) local
optimization of value.
Personal Agendas
Unused Product Features
Excessive Bureaucracy

32. Understand the Value System with…
Transparency Empathy Nonjudgmental attitude

33. Use a Common Space
Invite as many actors
as you can into the
same room
Let them be aware of
complexity of their
value system
Ask “why”, not just
“what" and “how” And yes, it might become interesting

34. Or just brew your
own!
Use a Common Visual Language
Discuss deeply and
precisely the
meaning of value
Use visualizations
Pick one of the many
available approaches
to describe it

35. Want to Talk?
provagl.io/linkedin
provagl.io/twitter
provagl.io/contact
Click on these links!

36. Many Thanks To…
Tom Gilb Christian Hassa Olaf Lewitz
and many others… you know who you are !
Tobias Mayer David HussmanDave Snoden

37. Main References
Jeffries, Ron - “The Nature of Software Development”
Collins, Jim and Porras, J. - “Built to Last”
Adzic, Gojko and Evans, D. - “50 Quick Ideas to Improve your User Stories”
Hubbard, Douglas - “How to measure everything”
Keeney, Ralph - “Value-focused Thinking”
Stakeholder Map - http://www.stakeholdermap.com
Gilb, Tom in “Agile Record #3” - http://agilerecord.com
Semler, Ricardo - http://www.ted.com/talks/
ricardo_semler_radical_wisdom_for_a_company_a_school_a_life
Portia Tung and Pascal Van Cauwenberghe - Presentation “Agreeing on
Business Value with Systems Thinking”